» Articles » PMID: 8314259

Estrogen and Progesterone Receptor Analysis in Pregnancy-associated Melanoma: Absence of Immunohistochemically Detectable Hormone Receptors

Overview
Journal Hum Pathol
Specialty Pathology
Date 1994 Jan 1
PMID 8314259
Citations 7
Authors
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

The role of estrogen in the initiation and progression of melanoma remains unclear. Some findings that suggest a hormonal role in melanoma initiation or progression include the following: (1) melanomas arising during pregnancy are thicker than those in nonpregnant women, (2) pregnant women with stage II (regional nodal metastases) melanoma have a worse prognosis than nonpregnant women of similar stage, and (3) melanoma is rare prior to puberty. Although biochemical assays have shown that estrogen-binding proteins are present in malignant melanoma, studies using a sensitive and more specific immunohistochemical technique have not found estrogen receptors (ERs) in melanoma. In our laboratory an immunohistochemical technique using monoclonal antibody H222 can detect ER in tumors with receptor levels lower than 9 fmol/mg protein and detects ER in a variety of tissues and species. In addition, monoclonal antibody KD68 is used to detect progesterone receptors immunohistochemically. We studied 14 cases of pregnancy-associated melanoma. None of our cases, ranging from melanoma in situ to metastatic melanoma, showed positive nuclear staining for ER, nor did any of these cases show positive immunohistochemical staining for progesterone receptor. Despite the wide tissue and species distribution of ER detected by the monoclonal antibody H222, this immunohistochemical technique does not appear to be useful in the study of possible hormonal effects on the progression of malignant melanoma. The estrogen-binding proteins in melanoma detected by biochemical techniques in previous studies probably are distinct from the well-defined human ER.

Citing Articles

Possible Association Between Melanoma Arising from Congenital Naevus and Oestrogen or Progesterone Receptor Expression: Clinicopathological Analysis.

Sumitomo C, Iwata Y, Sakai Y, Tsukamoto T, Sugiura K Acta Derm Venereol. 2023; 103:adv00887.

PMID: 36916951 PMC: 10108612. DOI: 10.2340/actadv.v103.5206.


Sex disparity in skin carcinogenesis and potential influence of sex hormones.

Collier V, Musicante M, Patel T, Liu-Smith F Skin Health Dis. 2022; 1(2):e27.

PMID: 35664979 PMC: 9060035. DOI: 10.1002/ski2.27.


Expression of Estrogen Receptor Alpha in Malignant Melanoma.

Rajabi P, Bagheri M, Hani M Adv Biomed Res. 2017; 6:14.

PMID: 28299306 PMC: 5343608. DOI: 10.4103/2277-9175.200789.


In vitro effect of progesterone on human melanoma (BLM) cell growth.

Ramaraj P, Cox J Int J Clin Exp Med. 2015; 7(11):3941-53.

PMID: 25550902 PMC: 4276160.


Sex-dependent liver colonization of human melanoma in SCID mice--role of host defense mechanisms.

Dobos J, Mohos A, Tovari J, Raso E, Lorincz T, Zadori G Clin Exp Metastasis. 2012; 30(4):497-506.

PMID: 23203681 DOI: 10.1007/s10585-012-9554-5.